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About time too fed up with going to craft fairs and hearing 'Oh I only do it for pin money, so don't bother with the tax side'. Underselling those of us who are legal, trading with no public or product liability insurance, risking the well being of customers blinded by the prices. Excuse me the rules of the land state that if you have a second income you have to declare, why should those of us that craft legally do all our accounts, pay NIC and tax if needed when others think they are above the law.I now craft full time but even when working and on PAYE still declared my second income

This has been brewing for some time and wrote to my MP the other year asking if those registered could have a card or something which they could display, sadly although he was all for it the HMRC felt it would take too much time to produce each year. He agreed that this sort of trading should stop whether craft fairs or car boots and more. Ebay and Etsy now have to supply names and addresses of their sellers to HMRC, they can then be checked they are declaring. On ebay this is for business sales not private sales before I get jumped on.

As a hobby crafter for many years, I have always been registered with HMRC and completed the Self Assessment return. This is not complicated and doesn't take very long if your affairs are simple and straightforward and you have kept your records in a methodical manner. Even with a couple of tiny occupational pensions to include this year it didn't take me very long to complete the form.

Until 2012 I worked part time (30 hours a week) in an admin post, and took voluntary redundancy during a national reorganisation and slimming down of the organisation who employed me. I have since worked on temporary contracts - on and off - via an agency.

Every year that I have submitted a tax return I have received a refund in respect of tax overpaid when my total income is taken into account. The amounts refunded have always been in the hundreds of pounds - some years more than others.

Many hobby crafters don't realise that, not only is it a criminal offence to not declare any earnings, but there is a good likelihood that they might qualify for a refund, and HMRC will pay this straightaway (I have already received my refund for the 2014/15 tax year ). So apart from undermining the quality and reputation of crafters in the eyes of the public, and breaking the law, they are quite possibly losing out financially.

The comment at the end of the post says it all, the chap did not declare until later got a hefty fine plus a tax bill, lost all his savings. Not worth it be legal and as Linda says not difficult and may be worth your while.